Indore, Jan 24 (PTI) Half-centuries by Sridam Paul and Bikram Kumar Das helped Tripura make 239 for six on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against defending champions Madhya Pradesh here on Tuesday.
Sent in to bat by the host team captain Aditya Shrivastava, Tripura saw their opening batters — Bikram Kumar Das (61, 169 balls, 7 fours) and U U Bose (21) — put on 30 runs before the latter fell to Gourav Yadav.
Medium-pacer Yadav (3/66) toiled hard for MP and picked up two more wickets including that of Das and the experienced Sudip Chatterjee (24). India pacer Avesh Khan ended the day with the wicket of top-scorer Paul, having him caught by Shubham Sharma.
A 137-run second-wicket partnership between Das and Paul (72, 143 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) helped Tripura mount a challenge to the varied MP attack. Their long partnership was ended by Yadav, who had Das caught behind by wicketkeeper Himanshu Mantri.
The MP bowlers appeared to be energised by the dismissal of Das and kept a tight leash on the scoring, which resulted in four more wickets by stumps.
Yadav claimed the key scalp of Chatterjee in the 77th over, having him caught by Mantri.
S S Ghosh (17) and M B Mura Singh (11) were not out when stumps were drawn.
In Ahmedabad, impressive knocks by Vivek Singh (97), Pratham Singh (96) and Shivam Chaudhary (83) helped Railways pile up 372 for five against Gujarat.
Meanwhile, two other matches in the group — Vidarbha vs Punjab and Chandigarh vs Jammu & Kashmir — saw the opening day’s play being truncated due to rain and bad light.
Brief scores: Tripura 239 for 6 in 82 overs (Sridam Paul 72, Bikram Kumar Das 61, Gourav Yadav 3/66) vs Madhya Pradesh.
In Ahmedabad: Railways 372 for 5 in 89 overs (Vivek Singh 97 (109 balls, 6×4, 7×6, Pratham Singh 96 (157 balls, 13×4), Shivam Chaudhary 83 (100 balls, 11×4, 2×6), Upendra Yadav 46 batting) vs Gujarat.
In Mohali: Vidarbha 1 for no loss in 1 over vs Punjab.
In Chandigarh: Chandigarh 18 for no loss in 6 overs vs J & K.
Source: PTI News
